#My5Lineups: A Trip Around the World with Photographer Sean Davey | The Inertia

Photographer

Community

$All Pistons Firing. This was an extraordinary situation at Pipeline during the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout several years ago. At the time, there were two solid swells in the water. One from the north and one from the northwest. The northwest swell was producing the goods, but every now and then a north set would come through. This produced this rare image of all of Pipe\'s reefs firing at the same time. It’s the only time that I’ve seen all the reefs turn on at exactly the same time. Photo: Sean Davey$

All Pistons Firing. This was an extraordinary situation at Pipeline during the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout several years ago. At the time, there were two solid swells in the water. One from the north and one from the northwest. The northwest swell was producing the goods, but every now and then a north set would come through. This produced this rare image of all of Pipe's reefs firing at the same time. It’s the only time that I’ve seen all the reefs turn on at exactly the same time. Photo: Sean Davey

$This is one of the very rarely surfed point breaks around the Hobart area of Tasmania. Although these waves get really good, they only happen just a couple of times a year, because they require a massive storm swell pretty much directly from the Antarctic region. As you can imagine, it’s usually freezing cold because those same south winds from Antarctica are what brings the swell. I happened to walk out to this point with a crew of pros in 2006, including the Long Bros, Mark Healey, and Jamie Sterling. We just happened to stumble upon what was called the point\'s best swell in over 10 years. I shot this image on the first afternoon as the swell filled in. There was no one out, so we could not properly gauge the size of the swell. We all walked away from it, thinking it was too small. This location is notorious for doing this. As it turned out, this place was absolutely pumping the next day with a good 40 or more surfers out. After having seen it with all the surfers out, I knew that this had actually been pretty good at about 4 or more feet in size when I pressed the shutter on this one. Photo: Sean Davey$

This is one of the very rarely surfed point breaks around the Hobart area of Tasmania. Although these waves get really good, they only happen just a couple of times a year, because they require a massive storm swell pretty much directly from the Antarctic region. As you can imagine, it’s usually freezing cold because those same south winds from Antarctica are what brings the swell. I happened to walk out to this point with a crew of pros in 2006, including the Long Bros, Mark Healey, and Jamie Sterling. We just happened to stumble upon what was called the point's best swell in over 10 years. I shot this image on the first afternoon as the swell filled in. There was no one out, so we could not properly gauge the size of the swell. We all walked away from it, thinking it was too small. This location is notorious for doing this. As it turned out, this place was absolutely pumping the next day with a good 40 or more surfers out. After having seen it with all the surfers out, I knew that this had actually been pretty good at about 4 or more feet in size when I pressed the shutter on this one. Photo: Sean Davey

$I took this image back in the mid-\'90s when you used to be able to walk up Comsat Hill behind Sunset Beach. I’m glad that I did get those pictures because you can’t access the hill anymore. They locked it all down after September 11th. Only way up there now is if you know someone who works up there. Photo: Sean Davey$

I took this image back in the mid-'90s when you used to be able to walk up Comsat Hill behind Sunset Beach. I’m glad that I did get those pictures because you can’t access the hill anymore. They locked it all down after September 11th. Only way up there now is if you know someone who works up there. Photo: Sean Davey

$Blue Sling. This is from a trip that I did to Micronesia with Pancho, Makua, Myles, and Jamie O\'Brien. Though we encountered a lot of pretty crappy weather, there was this one morning where there was brilliant sunshine and not a drop of water out of place—it was pumping! This is Pancho about to get absolutely shacked at P-Pass. And when it’s this good, there are very few waves on the planet that can match its perfection. Photo: Sean Davey$

Blue Sling. This is from a trip that I did to Micronesia with Pancho, Makua, Myles, and Jamie O'Brien. Though we encountered a lot of pretty crappy weather, there was this one morning where there was brilliant sunshine and not a drop of water out of place—it was pumping! This is Pancho about to get absolutely shacked at P-Pass. And when it’s this good, there are very few waves on the planet that can match its perfection. Photo: Sean Davey

$This place is situated on the northwest coast of Tasmania (my homeland), and it\'s pretty common for it to be like this. The O\'Neill Coldwater event that ran in Tasmania a few years ago posted up here, but not under quite as good conditions. The number of times that I have driven up to this beach have more often than not resulted in stoke, rather than disappointment. It has really fun beach breaks and the area even holds a couple of decent reef breaks as well. Photo: Sean Davey$

This place is situated on the northwest coast of Tasmania (my homeland), and it's pretty common for it to be like this. The O'Neill Coldwater event that ran in Tasmania a few years ago posted up here, but not under quite as good conditions. The number of times that I have driven up to this beach have more often than not resulted in stoke, rather than disappointment. It has really fun beach breaks and the area even holds a couple of decent reef breaks as well. Photo: Sean Davey

This is from my first trip to the Mentawais back in 1996. There were just three boats plying the waters there back then: a yacht called the Electric Lamb, our boat, The Indies Trader, and this boat, the Katika. This was a very idyllic setup at Lances Left this particular morning. It was 4-6 feet and no one out. I put the camera down and went for a surf. Footnote: I spotted the Katika again on a trip in 2006, some 10 years later and she was looking magnificent, having just undergone a refit. Sadly, she burned to the waterline about a month after I saw her. Photo: Sean Davey

This is from my first trip to the Mentawais back in 1996. There were just three boats plying the waters there back then: a yacht called the Electric Lamb, our boat, The Indies Trader, and this boat, the Katika. This was a very idyllic setup at Lances Left this particular morning. It was 4-6 feet and no one out. I put the camera down and went for a surf. Footnote: I spotted the Katika again on a trip in 2006, some 10 years later and she was looking magnificent, having just undergone a refit. Sadly, she burned to the waterline about a month after I saw her. Photo: Sean Davey

$Green Magnets . It’s no secret to those who know me that one of my favorite places in the world is King Island, which is nestled between Tasmania and the mainland of Australia, on the west side of Bass Straight. It’s pretty much a working class farming community full of hardworking honest and friendly folks. This particular beach requires a hell of a lot of swell to produce waves at this size. For example, if it’s 5 feet here, it’ll easily be 20 feet on the exposed coasts. It\'s not an easy place to get this good, but if luck is on your side, you might just get a chance to sample these beautiful beach breaks. Photo: Sean Davey$

Green Magnets . It’s no secret to those who know me that one of my favorite places in the world is King Island, which is nestled between Tasmania and the mainland of Australia, on the west side of Bass Straight. It’s pretty much a working class farming community full of hardworking honest and friendly folks. This particular beach requires a hell of a lot of swell to produce waves at this size. For example, if it’s 5 feet here, it’ll easily be 20 feet on the exposed coasts. It's not an easy place to get this good, but if luck is on your side, you might just get a chance to sample these beautiful beach breaks. Photo: Sean Davey

Another beautiful line up from my beloved King Island. Just beautiful barrels with usually no other surfers out. Photo: Sean Davey

Another beautiful line up from my beloved King Island. Just beautiful barrels with usually no other surfers out. Photo: Sean Davey

$This is California surfer Jeremy Sherwin checking out Shipstern\'s Bluff in Tasmania from the relative safety of the boat. That’s Tassy local Marti Paradisis to be the first in the lineup, showing the visiting surfers how to negotiate your way around this freak wave. I photographed this wave the first time in 2001 with Kieren Perrow, Mark Mathews, and Drew Courtney. That session, even to this day, still stands out. Photo: Sean Davey$

This is California surfer Jeremy Sherwin checking out Shipstern's Bluff in Tasmania from the relative safety of the boat. That’s Tassy local Marti Paradisis to be the first in the lineup, showing the visiting surfers how to negotiate your way around this freak wave. I photographed this wave the first time in 2001 with Kieren Perrow, Mark Mathews, and Drew Courtney. That session, even to this day, still stands out. Photo: Sean Davey

Another image from King Island. I shot this looking up the beach from where we were when we filmed and photographed Musica Surfica. Although we had decent waves where we were, they looked a lot better about a mile up the beach. Just barrels rolling in completely empty of surfers, which can be pretty typical around this place. Photo: Sean Davey

Another image from King Island. I shot this looking up the beach from where we were when we filmed and photographed Musica Surfica. Although we had decent waves where we were, they looked a lot better about a mile up the beach. Just barrels rolling in completely empty of surfers, which can be pretty typical around this place. Photo: Sean Davey

Back in the ’80s and ’90s, they used to fill magazine covers with super-tightly cropped images of surfers. You couldn’t see anything else. These days, it’s much more about pulled back images, notably the lineup shot. Back then, we didn’t shoot anywhere near enough of them because we were always in such a hurry to capture the action. However, I’ve managed to capture quite a few over the years while traveling.

I believe traveling keeps you more on the alert for the pulled back images. Since good photographers never have a camera too far away when on the road, the lineup shots tend to happen more there than at home. I do live in Hawaii, though, and this place definitely is right up there as far as lineup opportunities are concerned—especially at Pipeline. There are just so many different angles to be had of that place. There are days when I don’t even take the big lens because I’m much more interested in capturing the lineups and wide angle beach scenes. I find that those who purchase my work as prints and canvases definitely have a preference for the wide and pulled back images. Here are a few of my favorite lineup shots from around the world.

See more of Sean Davey’s photography by visiting his website or following him on Instagram.

Contribute

Join our community of contributors.

Apply